Navigation Games: Orienteer-In-Residence Program

We are currently looking for our next orienteer-in-residence - apply today!

Keep reading to find out more about the program. Applications are accepted on a rolling basis, with flexible start and end dates.

Meet our current Orienteer-in-Residence, Kieran Woods (New Zealand)

Kieran Woods is an experienced orienteer from New Zealand who has been involved in the sport since middle school. He is our latest orienteer-in-residence at Navigation Games, where he combines his passion for orienteering with a dedication to teaching and community engagement. 

Back home, Kieran is an active member of Auckland Orienteering Club and currently serves as the club president. Over the years, he has competed and coached nationally and internationally for New Zealand. With a strong background in coaching school orienteering teams, he is eager to bring this experience into the Navigation Games setting, adapting his coaching approach to make orienteering fun and accessible for all skill levels. At Navigation Games, he is focused on introducing new audiences to the sport and helping participants build confidence with a map.

Kieran has taken on a leading role in Navigation Games’ map making and management work. He works closely with staff and volunteers to create, update and organize maps for local parks, school grounds, and conference sites. He has worked with many of our teen employees and volunteers to complete their own maps to a high standard and has also taken on a mentorship role with the local high school orienteering team members.

Come say hello to Kieran at our next event or program!

What is the Orienteer-in-Residence (OIR) Program?

Since our organization’s founding 10 years ago, Navigation Games (NG) has been hosting one or more orienteers-in-residence every year to help develop and deliver our programming around the Cambridge, Massachusetts region. NG has hosted orienteers from all over the world including Norway, Mozambique, New Zealand, France, Italy, Brazil, Czech Republic, and Spain. They volunteer 30 to 40 hours per week with our organization; we provide shared housing, a weekly food stipend and assistance with travel costs. While we have strongly encouraged foreign volunteers to apply for this program, US citizens are also very welcome to apply!

Depending on the time of year and skills and interests of the volunteer, work with Navigation Games can include anything from: 

• mentoring school Physical Education (PE) staff to teach our games

• coaching middle school teams

• planning, managing and delivering public events

• managing teen interns 

• teaching orienteering classes for various summer programs

• organizing and maintaining equipment

• helping with our curriculum project (e.g. review lesson plans; make accompanying videos)

• helping deliver workshops for teachers and coaches 

• updating and creating orienteering maps of small urban spaces for teaching children

• training others to create maps, and much more!

Who should apply?

We love working with people from all walks of life. Experienced orienteers are strongly encouraged to apply, as we gain valuable insight into our curriculum based on the feedback and experiences of those who are familiar with the sport. By partnering with orienteers from clubs across the country and world, we hope to foster an exchange of ideas, methods and techniques to introduce a whole new generation to the sport we love and the skills that it imparts. 

Not an orienteer? That’s okay! If you are excited to learn about orienteering and how we teach the basic building blocks of the sport to youth, then this might be the right place for you! Many members of our staff had never orienteered before finding Navigation Games, and this is a perspective that is critical in developing programming accessible to all skill levels. We would love to host those with training in outdoor, experiential, adventure-based and/or environmental education.

This opportunity is open to anyone who would like to bolster their skills in teaching, project management, environmental education, technical skills, communications, marketing and more. For students, we have experience coordinating with colleges to arrange an internship.

Reach out to us to learn more and see if this program is right for you!

Why apply to be an OIR?

Travel - A volunteer experience with Navigation Games is a great opportunity to explore the greater Boston area and the United States in general. We love to support your adventurous side and offer a flexible schedule to allow for travel and time-off. A previous orienteer-in-residence from Spain made this video, which shows some of the amazing trips and exploration she undertook when not volunteering. 

Global community - One of the most wonderful aspects of orienteering is the global community that it creates. Competing in local and regional orienteering events during your OIR term is highly encouraged. Connect with a whole new group of orienteers at local NEOC events and national OUSA events. 

Build your resume - While this is not a traditional paid position, the experience gained through volunteering with Navigation Games is a great way to begin building (or adding to) your professional resume. You will gain important communication, management, teaching and leadership skills during your stay that can be leveraged in many future career opportunities.

How do I apply for the OIR Program?

To apply, please visit this site and fill out the volunteer form linked there. After receiving your application, we will conduct a virtual interview, a background check and reference checks. If you have questions, please email Navigation Games: admin@navigationgames.org. 

We can’t wait to hear from you and learn more about you!

Testimonials

Who better to speak to the success and excellence of this program than those who have done it themselves! Some of our OIR alum have created videos and written testimonials about their experience with Navigation Games to give you a better feel for what this opportunity holds. We feel so privileged to have worked with so many wonderful people from around the world, and we are so pleased to see that they feel the same way. Check out what they had to say below!

Fall 2023: Nuno Cossa of Mozambique- video

Summer 2024: Jules Fourment of France-

 “After spending three months with Navigation Games (NG), from mid-June to mid-September, I can say that it was a unique and amazing experience! To make the sport I like so much accessible to all by running programs in parks, with camps or even on islands, I found that I love the work NG does. I was able to see people from all ages enjoy our activities: from the 3 year old who did a small game finding animals with his dad, to teenagers racing each other on real orienteering courses, to adults looking at familiar places in a new light. It was amazing to see everyone have fun while doing some form of orienteering. The highlight of this feeling of shared joy was seeing a 5 year old child guide his father on a course while skillfully reading a map during one of the events held on an island in the Boston Harbor!

Thanks to Barbara Bryant (NG’s president and OIR host) I was also able to discover multiple places around the greater Boston area like Cape Cod and Concord. All were very different from what I knew in my home country of France. This difference was even more pronounced when visiting the two islands that Navigation Games mapped during the summer. Exploring the islands, looking for forgotten places, finding access points to every nook and cranny of these islands was so much fun! I really hope to one day come back and do another event on these islands using the maps I helped make.

I was also able to have a lot of time for myself during my trip. I was able to discover Boston, Cambridge, and the surrounding area on my own time, as well as visit friends in Canada during a 4 day weekend. I also got the chance to tour around with my family when they came to visit. It was nice to be able to balance work, rest and exploration thanks to a very understanding team.

All in all, it was an experience that was extremely valuable. I learned a lot about the USA, orienteering from an international standpoint, and myself. I felt welcomed by my hosts from the moment I stepped in the door and supported in my work by the entire Navigation Games team. I highly recommend the OIR program to any orienteer who wishes to discover new ways to spread the sport and discover a new culture at the same time.”

Who is Navigation Games?

Navigation Games is a 501(c)3 not-for-profit organization with the mission to develop, share and

deliver navigation education for children, engage families and enable access to the sport of

orienteering, and promote public health through outdoor exercise. We believe orienteering is one of the best ways to not only encourage map navigation and outdoor physical activity for youth, but also to provide experiences and an environment where they can develop important life skills.

What we do

● Teach children the sport of orienteering through map navigation games and fun activities

● Develop lesson plans and materials for educators 

● Enable others to deliver orienteering-based education through workshops and consulting

● Raise awareness about the sport in the Boston area and beyond

Learn more at navigationgames.org